Second Chances and Redemption
by blackviper327
Summary: "I believe in second chances. I believe in redemption." Even heroes need heroes of their own, and a guilt-wracked Terra is in need of one right now. She never expected one like this, though. A garbage summary for a sappy but oh so sweet little tale.


**Howdy folks. Since things have finally slowed down a bit in my life, I figured I'd crap out an idea I've had rolling around in my in head for a while between chapters of Redux. It's short and it's sappy, but damnit it's mine and I'm proud of it.**

 **As per usual, I own nothing. Hope y'all enjoy!**

 **TTTTT**

The Teen Titans had thought that it would take months at the very least, and more likely years to find a way to reverse Terra's petrified state. Raven had agreed so, even with all of her magical tomes and scrolls full of arcane lore, and Cyborg could find little in the way of science to even begin investigating a solution to the problem. They'd thought that it would end up having to take the team on a grand journey to the ends of the Earth to find some miracle cure that would restore the geomancer to flesh and bone. Beast Boy was certainly more than ready to pursue whatever lengths it would take.

In reality, it had taken less than two weeks. It was, perhaps appropriately, the Flash that provided a solution so simple that both the Titans and the Leaguers spent the better part of a day kicking themselves for not thinking of it immediately,

"Why not just go get that doo-hickey Felix Faust used on the Amazons? It turned people to stone and turned them back. Why couldn't it work on the kid?"

Retrieving the talisman had been simple; Wonder Woman, a bit reluctantly, had pulled it from the Watchtower's vault with a warning to be careful. Convincing Dr. Fate to tell them how to use it? That had been more difficult.

" _What do you mean you can't help us?" Robin shot as Dr. Fate turned his back on the Titans, already returning to the floating books he had been reading._

" _It is exactly as I said. Your friend's situation is tragic, but it is the will of fate."_

" _What crap is that?" Cyborg shouted at the masked man, starting forward past the rest of them. "She saved all our lives and the city!"_

" _So she did. She also committed a great evil in her betrayal, and her complicity in Slade's enslavement of Jump City. Her actions have placed her fate in balance, and it is up to the will of the Lords of Order to lay judgement."_

 _Beast Boy was livid._

" _Balance!? She's turned to stone, and you call that balance!? Dude, you're crazy!" Raven's hand was on his shoulder in an instant after that outburst, giving him a look that told him to shut up. He didn't listen. "You didn't know her! You didn't know what her life was like, why she did anything she did!"_

" _On the contrary I'm well aware of her history. It is a sad one, and I sympathize with her plight. However her choices do have a consequence and the balance must not be upset."_

" _Screw the balance!" Beast Boy almost screamed, throwing off Raven's arm and storming up toward the sorcerer. Fate finally turned then to face this challenger, and the green teen thrust the Medusa Talisman in the man's face. "Terra's a Titan, my friend! Tell me how to use this thing or I'll…"_

" _Beast Boy." Came a soft voice, and an orange hand laid gently over his gloved hand, trying to get him to lower his arm. Starfire looked at him pleadingly, her eyes slightly watery. "Please, calm yourself. Terra would not want to see you in this way. It will not help bring her back."_

 _There was a long, bitter pause at that, the changeling's expression softening as he let his arm fall. The talisman fell from his fingers and rolled to stop at the feet of Dr. Fate_ _The look he saw in the green youth's eye was one he'd seen many times before. The same look he imagined he had when he had begged his masters to restore his first love._ _The sorcerer looked down at that stone token, the gorgon face leering up him from the floor. Slowly he reached down and took it in a gloved hand, staring for a long moment before he looked over toward his beloved, Inza. The black-haired woman looked toward her husband, a tray of tea cups in hand, her expression impassive. A moment later she nodded, her ponytail swaying as she moved to offer the tea to he guests. Finally he sighed._

" _I will consult the Lords on this matter." Was all he said before he vanished in a great ankh of darkness that whisked away as quickly as it came._

Two hours after that, Fate had returned with the talisman in hand, and imparted the words of power on the Titans. It was, of course, Beast Boy that was given the honors of speaking them before the petrified girl. Starfire had been at his side the entire time, her hand on his shoulder as she watched him raise the talisman before the girl's frozen face. They both looked down at the plaque the Titans had left at Terra's feet. Yes, for all her faults Terra had been the best friend Beast Boy had ever had, and more, he hoped in his heart. When he finally spoke the words, they were slightly choked with emotion, but they rang out through the cavern.

"Ravis Vitei!"

Those words still stuck in Terra's head two weeks later. She still couldn't believe that she was living and breathing again, but here she was on the island just off of Jump City, shadowed by the looming shape of Titans Tower behind her. She was in the spot where she'd skipped rocks with Beast Boy that first night she'd spent with the Titans. The night she'd confided in him her weakness, her shame. The night she was pretty sure she'd…fallen in love with him? Yeah. Even then she was pretty sure there were some strong feelings between the two. She still regretted how her stupidity, her readiness to believe that Beast Boy had betrayed her trust to the others had ruined things. Just like she regretted almost all of the actions she'd taken in her life. Her cowardice, her stubborn pride, her gullibility; She hated herself for all of it, and the pain she had brought on everyone around her.

The pain she'd brought to the Titans, her friends, the only people in the world aside from Brion and Gregor who had stood by her and accepted her. The pain she'd caused Beast Boy...that was what she hated herself the most for right now. It seemed like almost all of Jump City agreed too, and she couldn't blame them. There was even a shock jock who'd played "You Give Love a Bad Name" on a loop for two days straight interspersed with her rantings about how Terra should have been rotting in a cell for the rest of her life. That had only stopped when Beast Boy and Starfire had threatened to come down to her studio and see to it that she didn't have enough intact equipment to broadcast down the street. Terra had begged them not to do it, but there was no stopping them when a friend was talked about like that. They were the first to forgive her completely, and she thought Cyborg might not have been far behind with how he'd tried to get her to open up since her return. Robin and Raven? Well…they were keeping their distance. She figured they were both cooking up a plan to deal with her in case she went rogue again. She couldn't blame them.

She wanted to be a Teen Titan again, more than anything she wanted to be a part of the team, to be a part of that family, but…she knew she didn't deserve it. No matter how much Starfire or Beast Boy told her that she was forgiven, or Robin's assurance that her status as a member wasn't in jeopardy, she knew she didn't deserve the right. She hadn't even worn her Titans shirt since then, sticking to her civilian ensemble, lest the shame grow too heavy on her to move.

How? How could any of them trust her to be around them after what she'd done? After how she'd betrayed them after all they'd done for her? Those same thoughts raced through her mind over and over as she buried her face in her knees, trying to bite back tears welling up in her eyes.

"Good evening, Terra." Terra's head shot up at that voice. No...no, not him. She turned to see the speaker, and her heart dropped. She knew the blue spandex, that red cape, the S symbol that had symbolized hope for both his species and for Metropolis. She turned away immediately, burying her face back into her gloves as she dared not face him. How could she? Superman was _the_ hero, the face of the Justice League. How could she, Terra, the traitor and the girl that had almost killed the Teen Titans, helped enslave Jump City for that madman Slade, face a man like him after what she'd done? She didn't answer, just tried to choke back the sobs that wanted to pour out, hold back the tears that wanted release. She heard the footsteps on the gravel behind her, stopping just shy of the blonde teen's slender frame. "Settling back in alright?"

"Yeah, it's…it's going okay. I'm back in my old room. This is taking a little getting used to, though." She gestured vaguely down to the monitoring bracelet at her ankle. That had been a part of the government's allowance of her being back on the Teen Titans. She wasn't allowed outside of the continental United States without at least two members of the Teen Titans or Justice League guarding her at all times, and she had to check in with a parole officer every week. Superman nodded, looking at the thing distastefully.

"I wasn't a fan of the judge's decision, but we have to go with the law's call for now." She nodded briefly, not wanting to look up at him. His tone softened as he spoke next. "Are you holding up alright?"

She didn't respond.

"….that bad, then?" There was no contempt in that voice, not even a trace of annoyance. There was a long pause, the only sound being the girl's attempts to hold back the emotions flooding through her mind and body right then. She could hear and feel Superman moving to side beside her. His presence felt enormous next to her tiny, almost delicate frame. "I'm sorry. I know how rough this must be for you."

"I don't understand how they can trust me. I've done such terrible things to them and this city. The people know better, so why don't they?" She asked with her voice hoarse and choked. The tears were starting to run down her cheeks now, gloved fingers gripping her knees tightly.

"Love, I'd imagine. It's a powerful motivator. It inspires you not to give up on your friends, even when they're at their lowest. Especially then." There was another pause.

"I don't deserve their love. Not Raven's, not Cyborg's, not Robin's, or Starfire's, or…" she trailed off. The tears were coming faster now. "Beast Boy's."

"They disagree." Terra looked up at Superman at that. He reached out a hand to wipe her tears aside. "It took me years to earn people's trust again after I helped invade Metropolis. I almost killed Supergirl. It was hard and thankless a lot of days. But my loved ones never stopped believing in me, believing I could do better."

"You were brainwashed, though. Darkseid was controlling your mind. I…I did this on my own. I made a choice to follow Slade, and to…to betray them." Terra could feel her lip quivering now as she looked up at the man. She stood to leave, but the Kryptonian stood as well, blocking her path.

"You were scared. You'd spent your whole life dreading the moment when you would lose control, that you might accidently break something, someone. Believe me, I know what it's like to be terrified of having that kind of power and not having any control over it."

Terra couldn't hold it back anymore. She sobbed openly through her next words, tears streaming down her face.

"Why? Why am I worth trying to save? Why are you trying to help me, after everything that's happened?" She felt two powerful hands on her shoulders then, urging her to look the towering man in the eye.

"Because I believe in second chances, Terra, and I believe in redemption. Most important, I believe in the ability of people to change their lives. I've seen people that most would write off as irredeemable villains give their lives to save the world. Ask me to show you Solomon Grundy's grave sometime." He looked down at her, smiling. "You're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for. If they can change their lives, so can you."

Superman didn't flinch when Terra threw her arms around him, her body shaking as she cried into his chest. He held her there gently, like a father tending to his grieving daughter there on the rocky beach of Titan Island. Neither knew how long they stood there in that embrace, and neither cared. It was one hero bringing another back from the lowest places, and they only broke apart when Beast Boy and Starfire came down searching for their friend. They were both momentarily star-struck by the sight of the Man of Steel, but they regained their composure quickly enough for Superman to turn over the care of the girl to her friends. She gratefully went over to Beast Boy's side as Superman stood there, watching with a faint smile as the green teen gently carried her off back toward the tower. Starfire lingered for a moment there, looking up at the Kryptonian as he started to fly away.

"Thank you, Kal-El, for being the comfort to our dear friend." She shouted up to him.

"Take care of her, Kori. She's got a lot of potential, but she'll need good friends to make it." He didn't add that he already knew she did.

 **TTTTT**

 **Wow. That was without a doubt the sappiest piece I've ever written, but damn was it satisfying to put down into writing. And with this distraction gone, I can focus on writing the next chapter of Redux! I'll probably do some more short stories like this, but for now it's back to the main course. As always read and review folks, and God bless.**


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